Wood Barn

An important aspect of turning our new house into a home for us was a major re-model of our bedroom. It’s a really great space, large, dual aspect, high ceilings and evening sunsets.

We really wanted the room to be much more cosy, warm and inviting for us each night. A place to relax and rejuvenate. It was a big task as this is what we were starting with;-

We’d already made a big change by knocking down the wall between the large windows and installing big sliding glass doors. This gave us a view, even more light and brought the outdoors inside.

All we needed to do now was work out what the overall look of the room was going to be! After a huge amount of research, thinking and designing, we came up with a colour scheme and plan.

I visited the sawmill to look for inspiration for the main and very large drawer unit. After the bed, it was the biggest piece of furniture in the room. I’d worked out that the yellow top and sides were in fact, cladding placed on the separate drawer units and could be taken off. All we needed to do was find an alternative. So with rough measurements in hand, the search started.

The sawmill suggested some Oak or Beech but I was after something a bit different. With a glint in his eye, he lead me to a big stack of slabs and said, “well, this is now ready and is a bit special.” It was Spalted Sycamore, taken from a massive tree that had been blown over in a storm a few years ago and very local. Taking one look at the top slab and I knew this was it. This was perfect. We chose two massive boards there and then and paid a deposit. They’d be delivered in a few weeks which was fine as we were by no means ready to build the cabinets. They arrived perfect and beautiful and we stored them in the bedroom so they could acclimatise for a couple of months.

When the time came, we cut the long top to width but left the live edge in tact. We then cut the other piece into three for the sides, again leaving the live edge.

It was now time to finish the sanding and oil it to protect. I only sanded it down to 240 grit with a new hand held DeWalt cordless palm sander I’d bought. I then used Osmo Wood Protector on all sides of both pieces and allowed it thoroughly dry off. I then painstakingly oiled it with Osmo Top Oil and gave it 5 coats on all sides. This was applied with a smooth lint free cloth (old cut up t-shirt!), a new piece for each coat and then hung for the cloth to dry completely before throwing away. NB: Oiled rags thrown in the bin can start fires, it is a thing! I buffed the surface after drying, with a heavy linen cloth, for each coat applied.

To oil each side 5 times including drying time was a long and slow process but the way it brought it up the beautiful spalt lines and colour was so amazing to see, it was an enjoyable job.

The fitting of the top was really easy, the base cabinets already had screws and holes for fitting the old yellow top so we simply used those. The sides were slightly harder and we had to clamp them in place first before following the same process. To finish the project we used the thin off-cuts we’d shaved off the back of the slabs with a circular saw and stuck to the wall on the top and likewise for a plinth at the bottom. Perfect.

This piece of furniture still amazes me two years later. We’d bought some really cheap kitchen drawer fronts and handles online (the base cabinets are standard sizes) and fitted them to complete the look. What was quite a soulless, functional drawer unit has become a piece of bespoke, natural, solid work of art! It looks like a cabinet maker constructed a unique piece for us. It’s truly beautiful, tactile and extremely functional. The warmth of the wood brings a solid tonal foundation to the whole room.

With an off-cut from the slab I decided last minute to make a stool for the dressing table gap. This was really easy after ordering steel legs, again, from an Etsy trader.

Costs: Drawer Fronts x 12 £155, Handles x 12 £80, Stool Legs £35, Oils & Preserver £200, Spalted Sycamore £1,332 = Total £1,802

This piece shows how far I’ve come in my woodworking journey. I would never have even thought to re-clad the drawer units in this way. If I had thought of it, I’d never have done it. £1,800 for a piece of furniture isn’t cheap I accept but we’ve got a unique, solid, beautiful piece of furniture that will last for years. We also adore it rather than just ‘like’ it and the fact we made it ourselves just adds to the whole piece.